We spend more time on social media than in the pub

Chris Page, Digital First Team

Brits spend more time on social media than at the pub - well, some of us do, according to new research.

The average British person will spend more than three years of their life updating social media, a study has found.

How we spend our time at a glance

The Samsung survey also found that we spend on average eight months laughing, as opposed to 30 hours crying - but five weeks arguing.

And a stereotypical Brit will spend 235 hours waiting in a queue, seven months commuting, and 12 months in the pub - although the data shows that English people will be in their local hostelry for longer than their country folk in Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Those surveyed also believed that their thirties were the happiest time of their lives, which may or may not tie in with that age group’s heavy social media use - the under-40s spending on average one hour 47 minutes per day, as opposed to the 40 minutes spent by the over-65s.

However, pensioners weren’t completely technophobic - a quarter of this age group saying that they used more than one screen for their online activities, although this fell short of the 90 per cent figure overall.

“The 'always-on generation' of under 40's are working longer hours, have their diaries packed with social activities and are glued to multiple screen devices to stay constantly connected to the world via social media,” said Dr Becky Spellman.

Speaking to the Press Association, the social psychologist who conducted the research said: “As we become a generation of people who find it hard to switch off, our brains are adjusting and making us even better multi-taskers.

“Our ability to juggle, manage and process information is growing at a substantial rate.”